When We Fall

t w o

NOTE
if you read chapter one before 6/2/22: I've made some edits since then, so go take a look at it before you continue so this makes sense!

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02| Saige
-not edited-

I AWAKE AGAIN to the sound of someone busting into my room, as Emelia and Lilah begin yelling about how I need to get up and ready.

Yeah. I thought having my parents gone would mean freedom to sleep in until one pm, but apparently not on the girls' accord.

They rummage through my closet as I still struggle to pull myself out of bed, throwing a crop top and pair of mom jeans and converse at me. "Wear this today, it'll look cute on you."

I eye the crop top, not sure how to feel about showing that much skin in a public place, but Lilah and Emi talk me into it, hyping me up majorly. They know how much of a struggle it's been, and remind me that even a little progress is still progress.

After a solid thirty minutes of fussing over hair, shoes and accessories, I've settled on leaving my hair down and straightening it, with a bunch of gold rings and small dainty gold necklaces. I wore the converse, with a pair of black sunglasses on my head to finish the look.

I check myself out in the mirror, which for some reason placed next to my open window, where I realize Cas staring at me through his window. He quickly looks away, a blush spreading over his cheeks as he realized I saw him. I mouth the word perv back to him, and he returns the gesture by flipping me off.

A pang of guilt hits me fast. I miss how we used to be. Everyone in our group had their person, Emi had Lilah, Lucas had Ash and I had Cas.

But yesterday quickly proved things are far from how they used to be, and won't be the same again.

Which is fine by me. He didn't bother to reach out to me, so I must not have meant as much to him as I thought I did. His excuse about me not saying bye means nothing, if it was that big of a deal he could've tried to contact me.

I waited months for my best friend to ask where I was, or what happened. Months. And the message never came.

After a year I stopped waiting, stopped hoping for the message that would never come.

I look back up to see Cas still standing there looking at me, and realize I've been staring at him the entire time too.

As I throw the curtains shut, I realize that I do like the outfit. It fits me perfect, and doesn't show too much skin, but still just enough.

I smile, it's been a really long time since I've been able to think things like this about myself.

"Okay enough of this, we need to get to the mall before the sun goes down!" Emi gasps, dragging Lilah and I from the room and down the stairs.

The drive to the mall is short, full of Taylor Swift and screaming our lungs out. The girls picked up smoothie bowls on the way here, understanding that even though I'm mostly recovered, I'm taking it slow. Healthy foods, fruits and smoothies are my main source of food, and very rarely do I eat junk food.

After reaching the mall, they drag me through multiple stores from Forever 21 to Aerie, throwing clothes at me left and right. Eventually they decided I had enough to be set for the South Carolina weather, which they had explained was hot and humid but also freezing.